#and they risked their job to tell them all the info about the last two episodes

[thefabulousfab-3]

I love reading all the reactions to recent “spoilers”, that have zero credibility and make absolutely no sense. You guys will believe anything.

[lisa-russell]

Another point I will stick onto my GreyScale Agent 4 Hijacked Security System Avatar Conspiracy Board.

EDIT: Saw the new info. A copy of Four is Still...in a loose sense Four, like have you seen the Lesser Four Copies? The way they all pose and how the last one is just pulled down in the Grey Ooze cause they weren't focusing on 8...It's like the main Copy has all of the Ogs agents skills and drive. Yet pieces of Fours funky personality from in-game cannon got carried over by the portion of Said Soul being drawn in to form a pallette!

Click or tap images tah read and zoom in...So yah gonna tell me non of this has any real correlation or claim? *jabs finger at the images below.*

EDIT: I WAS RIGHT!, so what if The Parallel Cannon is said to be just a copy surronded by lesser copies. Order still had to capture a fraction of Fours Soul and than Copy a template or construct of Four, in the process of also Greyscaling those copies and reprograming them into a Security Force for its own use!

Meanwhile the Original Soul Fragment was WAS USED, to form a Pallete.

So...yah. Its maybe not the full 4 BUT it's also still technically 4 to a degree!

EDIT: Hmph. So I was pretty clam close to the lore!)

I am like 71% convinced that it is Agent 4. Despite. What. The. Game and Off the hook reacts to. Theirs faaaar to much evidence to not considered or convenience, me otherwise!

Another interesting detail is the very boss name itself...

And than these little tid bits below...theres far too much stuff HINTING AT 4...like we all know how Nintendo loooooves tah hide der lore.

EDIT: JUST LIKE THE JELLOTONS FOURS COPY WAS REPROGRAMED AND RECONSRRUCTED INTO A ROLE ONLY ORDER WOULD WANT.

And from dat ominoius statement Baby Order left on 4s Soul Weapon Pallete, I point to this other little fact.

Overlorder...so many little hints at the corrupted A.I twists what was going to be 4s job, or rather reaaaaally likes that idea.

And just inking goes for 4.

We or those who have read Marina's Dev Dairies know the rather horrifying and painfully traumatize process of being Sanitized.

And I point out GreyScaling sounds pretty similar no?

The memverse was made to REVERSE IT, or at least help bring life back to those poor empty husks. Yah, they legit said Husks.

I'm thinking Overlorder took dat Data and used it to form the Greyscaling process, taking advantage of the Glitch or Security Risk in the memverse and sucked up A Soul Fragment of Agent 4s portion via the Shellphone -to form the Copy Amalgamation of Parallel Cannon.

Ironically creating a Security System Avatar.

For its own purpose.

And may I point out, in my run after defeating Marina...it was them who I encountered next as if my 8 had activated the Avatar by excuting some form of alarm system built into the spire. And I recall that Marina made the whole thing to be repeatable, helping 8 or any Sanitized Octo regain their memories--yet when yah defeat dah boss, she reacts if she had never designed or even put in a template for that boss...unlike the other two. Which would explain dah new info e got on Order capturing and copying 4s Agent Skillset and Biodata for its own foul use!

-------(Edit: The famistu interview duddddes.)

A MUCH clearer new info about 4...

See dah part where der made out of sludge?

GREY FAMILIAR LOOKING SLUDGE. Grey Oooze...apparently capable of not only erasing memories and the conscious self, but also copying the Soul Fragments of captured victims when installed or pasted into it, thus creating an Artificial and rather freaky constructs or Avatars for Order to use...

A copy they maybe...but it still had to come from the Original Agent 4.

And I don't think Four would have willingly allowed the Corrupted Order A.i to use their biodata and skillsets for such a dark purpose.

IF yah think about it dis way, they had a fragment of der soul torn from themselves, thus becoming a victim and vulnerable to Greyscaling. THAN that Fragment was, forcibly copied without OGs Fours permission and most likely put through some kind of Greyscaling process, it's body and much like the Jellotons, was reconstructed and copied again tah be used as a weapon...

THAN that remaining OG Soul Fragment as turned into 4s favorite weapon...

Like hers how the describe Fours personality and traits directly from in-game lore:

"Agent 4 is described as a silent squid who goes with the flow even in raging waters, and values freedom and flexibility. They also "blast through any situation with ease." Agent 4 did not initially know who the Squid Sisters were, but later came to respect them after their journey in Octo Canyon. Agent 4, as seen in promo pictures and art, has a diligent work ethic, a lot of confidence, and is extremely free-spirited. Compared to Agent 3, they are shown to be more easygoing and relaxed, yet slightly upbeat in their mannerisms and are constantly depicted as smiling in official art."- Inkipedia

Now try and imagine how having a fragment of their soul captured would effect such a sunshine ray of an Agent... and I could see why Order made a moldable copy of Four. Four would rebel with all der might against Order, like Corrupted Order sounds like their worst nightmare...

And that is my thoughts on dah whole Agent 4 Thang.

[outro-jo]

Stray Kids when he can’t have you

pairing: skz x reader (gender neutral) x reader’s partner (they/them pronouns)

type: scenario

summary: he’s your best friend and he can’t have more

warning: angst, unrequited love, talks about crying, mentions of abuse 

song inspo: here

a/n: please read info before requesting 🤍

masterlist | info 

—————————

chan- it absolutely kills him. he doesn’t know what hurts worse, seeing you in those moments when you’re hopelessly in love with them… or when you’re hurt by them. he’s the one you go to crying after arguments. he holds you while you cry over them and his heart shatters. he tries to offer the best advice he can that benefits you the best. he thinks of himself last. a lot of good songs come out of it but he tries to tell you that someone else wrote them. 

minho- he distances himself emotionally. you could be sitting right next to him but he feels like a million miles away. his smile doesn’t have the warmth it used to. you feel guilty and you don’t even know what for. your partner starts getting suspicious of him so they ask you to stop hanging out with him. he doesn’t let anyone see but he spends so many nights missing you and crying. when around others, he’s closed off and stoic. the boys keep trying to love and encourage him but it’s hard. it’s like talking to a brick wall. 

changbin- he knows he could love you better and it enrages him. but he’ll put on a smile and act like he always does but those closest to him can see it in the way he clenched his fists and jaw when you’re not looking. he hates the way your partner talks to you but he sees the way your eyes light up and he doesn’t have the heart to say anything to you. he has to take up boxing with chan to work through it.

hyunjin- a small piece of him dies inside when he sees how you are around your partner. when they make you smile or laugh, the twinkle in your eyes. he used to be the one to do that to you—that was his job. the stars in your eyes seem to blind you from the red flags popping up. he’s worried that if he says something he’ll lose you altogether and he can’t bear that. he misses the way things were before. he dreams about you more often and his notebook is full of drawings of you that no one else will see.

jisung- also hides behind a smile. with all the hiding he has to do, his anxiety gets worse. how can he keep this up around you? what if he messes up and says something? it would ruin everything, he thinks. he tried to pretend that everything was normal for you. you seem so happy with them. eventually he starts getting busier. he’s not really but that’s what he tells you. he allows time and distance to heal things… for him.

felix- will always think of you first. he seems genuinely happy when you go on your first date and when he meets them for the first time but as soon as the two of you leave, he’s sobbing in chan’s arms. he never listens  to chan’s advice to tell you because he can’t risk your friendship. as awful as this feels, he knows it feels worse to not have you in his life at all. he keeps lying to himself that he’ll move on and get over it.

seungmin- he’s unsure about this new person at first but you just chock it up to him being protective of you as your best friend. then the flags start getting redder and he can’t hold back any more. the concerned conversation turns into a screaming match and you decide if he can’t be happy for you and supportive then you don’t need him. that is until you’re on his door step, teary eyed and bruised.

jeongin- keeps quiet even to the boys. if this is what you want then he’ll support you. it kills him inside but he doesn’t dare let it out. he knows once it starts he’ll break down and have to confess so he holds it in. it’s a ticking time bomb especially when he sees the way they’re treating you.

[bleue-flora]

Well since everyone’s doing staged duo headcanon I might as well follow @dr3amofagame [post] and @elmhat [post], and throw in my two cents, which is probably less headcanon and more interpretation of canon.

c!Dream and c!Punz’s insistence on answers and power is only half true. Or at least not the full picture. They do want knowledge and answers but not because of power or greed, but because they were hurt by random people like c!Tommy and c!Wilbur showing up with no explanation. The power they strived for wasn’t a ruling, controlling power but the ability to protect what they value, whether from the rest of the server or death.

c!Dream did tell c!Punz about the torture. Debatable on how much detail he goes into but he does tell him, even if prompted first. I think this for a couple reasons. Firstly, to c!Purpled, c!Punz says, “But they were, Dream told me how Sam let him in freely and allowed him to do unspeakable things to him, that wasn’t a prison that was Hell in a box,” basically telling us that c!Dream told c!Punz and while this could be argued as manipulation, it also just makes sense. He also says “And Quackity was allowed to go in and torture him Every. Single. Day. Purpled, do you know what that does to a man, do you know the limits that people have it—it goes beyond those limits, it's not okay,” and his highlight of it being daily is telling to me. It didn’t have to be daily to be brutal and horrible and have lasting effects. Unless he watches Quackity go in and out covered in blood Every Single Day, at which point would cause some serious concern, then how would he know it was daily unless c!Dream told him? And I am of the opinion that if he had noticed Quackity coming in and out of the prison covered in blood, suspecting c!Dream was being tortured then he would have said something to c!Dream or in his own inner thoughts during the Jailbreak stream. Secondly, as someone with the Revive book it’d be kinda reckless to not inform c!Punz about what happened. He kinda should know who is a major threat and what lengths people are willing to go. After all, should they find out he has the book somehow he needs to be informed on what that could mean for him. But even so, I don’t think c!Dream just offered up that information without c!Punz either asking or doing/saying something that persuades c!Dream to tell him. c!Punz definitely suspects first before he learns more details.

c!Punz did not know why c!Dream wanted Quackity’s location or what he intended to do with the information in the scrapped lore. So, he didn’t take time to scope it out, it was more of - here’s where he lives sorta deal (like if c!Dream asked where Kinoko Kingdom is, then it’s not like c!Punz is going to scope out the place for booby traps and such, he’d just give the location). So, he doesn’t learn about the torture till after, when c!Dream is way worse for wear and tells him what happened in Pandora’s Vault, but I do agree, not about what exactly happened in the scrapped lore (it would make him look too weak).

I think I do have to agree with dr3 and elm on c!Punz going behind c!Dream’s back when going to Purpled. I don’t think c!Dream would risk c!Punz’s exposure like that after everything he sacrificed to keep them a secret and yea c!Dream definitely doesn’t have the info on c!Purpled and c!Slime to put together that plan. I could definitely see it as c!Punz’s own like redemption for the failed first attempt at revenge that he is inadvertently at fault for. Like after finding out about the torture and why c!Dream wanted to know where Quackity was, he is upset and goes to form a plan for better revenge, which after a certain point of success he ropes c!Dream in.

c!Punz does visit the prison, but not before Dream breaks out and not like all the time but just because c!Tommy or c!Sapnap may be watching the place doesn’t mean c!Punz can’t sneak it. He’s a spy after all, it’s kinda his job. I get this impression based on how c!Punz and c!Dream seem to show off the prison together in the finale - ‘let’s show them a part they haven’t been to before.’ And while the deterioration of the prison is a great parallel to Tommy’s overgrown home, both representing the poor mental states of the characters, I think it is worth noting that it’d be really suspicious if the prison was all nice. Like yea ideally no one gets in, but if they do it’s a good deterrent for the place to look dirty and abandoned. After all, who would live in such a mess? Is similar to the mindset or who chooses to live in their own torture box? Who chooses to live in their own hell?... 

c!Punz is jealous of c!George.

[aj-lenoire]

i know it’s 2023 but i have a lot of Thoughts™ on demon!dean and since this is my corner of the internet and i can talk about whatever i goddamn like we’re gonna talk about how they squandered the deanmon potential—yes i know this was back in 2015 what’s your point misha had to come out as straight last year this train is never stopping

cause like, i remember all the promo spots being off the shits like ‘THIS…IS THE YEAR…OF THE DEANMON!!!!’

and i was psyched, and then it turned out to be like, 3 episodes. and he just sang terrible karaoke. the worst thing he did was try to grope a woman—which, obviously, is a shitty thing to do, but isn’t on the same level as like, torturing her to death

it just—it could’ve been so damn cool. imagine, like, castiel trying to reason with him, and since angels see demons as they truly are, not who they’re wearing (also: was deanmon possessing his own corpse? could he have possessed another human? i haven’t rewatched since it aired but like… did they ever clarify that??) he can see like this mutilated thing that he knows is his friend, but it’s almost beyond recognition

and deanmon is basically a soulless human, functionally, because he doesn’t care about anything or anyone except himself and what he wants, and these two guys with their ‘i know you’re in there somewhere’ and ‘this isn’t the real you’ crap are really getting on his nerves, so he’s coming out with stuff like how, it was forty years in hell, therefore alistair knew him longer than sam or cas, alistair made him into what he is now, and he’s so grateful bc he’s no longer snivelling over every insignificant dead human they come across. humans are so pathetically fragile after all, why bother trying to save them?

just IMAGINE the potential—the futility of cas raising him from perdition! because this was always who he was meant to become, what he was going to be, and cas was just delaying the inevitable—because dean’s whole life has been authority figures forging him into their weapon. all cas was trying to do was swap out one blacksmith for another

and yeah i know they needed to wrap up the deanmon thing sharpish because of the 300th episode but like… they could’ve made 300 a flashback. like a fun-ish job the boys did years prior, and at the end of the episode sam suddenly wakes up because he was dreaming of that hunt and in remembering it he’s had a ~breakthrough~ on how to help dean—and THAT’S how he knows where to look and finds out about the blood injection nonsense

(i still cannot believe it was THAT SIMPLE to cure someone of being a demon. and that dean was also allegedly a knight of hell or some bullshit)

like we could’ve had a solid half-a-season of deanmon, we get to see the full range of what he was actually capable of. he still blows off crowley, obviously, because he doesn’t need to be babysat, he doesn’t need someone to line up a murder-y demon deal for him like he’s on an enrichment program at the zoo

sam hasn’t seen him in several episodes, he’s still trying to figure out how to get dean back, if he can get dean back, and he’s doing hunts in between because he feels morally obligated to, or he needs money, or he’s doing it for someone in return for info on the dean thing—whatever

dean rocks up to where sam’s working on a job, and at first you just think he’s there to piss sam off and generally fuck around, and sam just can’t look at him and can’t be near him cause it’s so obviously not his brother and he doesn’t want to risk dean realising he’s searching for a fix, because he genuinely, deeply fears that this thing with his brother’s face will try to kill him.

but dean’s going around telling everyone that sam’s his brother and forcing sam to play nice because they’re in front of people, and dean makes very clear what will happen if sam doesn’t play nice and doesn’t let dean do as he likes—and sam’s just disgusted and uneasy

and once sam finishes the job—having bonded slightly with whoever was being attacked—he tells dean to leave him the hell alone, and leaves the town. and dean stays behind, seemingly honouring his brother’s wishes—is there hope?

but that night‚ dean goes to the house of whoever sam helped on the hunt. maybe it’s a cute suburban family‚ maybe it’s a college girl whose friend was killed, but he knocks on the door and says he’s dean and he’s sam’s brother and they’re estranged and he doesn’t know where sam went—could she help him? so she invites him in‚ because sam is the kind guy who just saved her life, and his brother is just as charming and handsome and seems like a nice dude, and the last thing we see is dean (from behind) as he enters‚ and he’s holding the first blade behind his back and the door just slowly swings shut. cut to black.

and later—maybe not next episode‚ maybe the viewers are left to stew for a bit—dean calls sam and tells him what he did. that the people sam risked his life to save are dead. sam ended up not making a difference at all. and the most fucked up part is that he sounds exactly like regular dean as he says all this—using the same slang and chirpy tone like he’s talking about music. and in that same cheerful tone, he warns sam not to try ordering him around ever again.

dean enjoyed being a hunter, he enjoyed the heroism and simplicity of killing bad guys and saving good guys. now, with the first blade making him crave blood? without that pesky conscience? he doesn’t much care about good or bad anymore. he cares that this guy still sees him as his poor, tragic brother, and is still trying to save him, so killing the people that this guy just saved? it’s fun. it’s funny. this guy is annoying him with this ‘i know you’re in there’ talk but this is him, and he likes it, and he likes watching sam fret over fragile, insignificant humans because sam is just as pathetic

[captaingondolin]

Get to know me tag game!

tagged by @corelliaxdreaming

I am constitutionally incapable of being brief ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

1. Do you make your bed?

Usually not. Sometimes I think it will magically make me feel better about life. Or help me not fall back into it (spoiler: it doesn't work)

2. Favorite number?

Even numbers. 5 and its multiples are on thin ice.

3. What’s your job?

Used to be librarian, currently an archeology student (shout out to my mother for the help, to my depression funk that meant I spent next to nothing during my last two years at work, and to the fact that I moved to a place where normal humans don't need faustian deals to afford higher education)

4. If you could go back to school would you?

See above. I am also an anxious mess who cannot do deadlines, so the dream would be just attending lectures forever without doing exams/essays (which I think in my home country you could technically legally do, since unis are public, you only pay if you enroll. but it might be outdated info)

5. Can you parallel park?

No license yet (and I'm An Old). Don't judge, I used to live in London, and currently I'm in a weird spot with figuring out where I'm living long term.

6. Do you think aliens are real?

Same as what Katie said, not sure about humanoid aliens, but the universe is vast and there must be life somewhere else.

7. Can you drive a manual car?

See above. But I live in Europe, most people use manual, so that's what I'll learn.

8. What’s your guilty pleasure?

Guilt was invented by the catholic church to sell more confessions.

9. Tattoos?

I have a whole list. I promised the very first to my child self (it will be Alexander the Great themed). But.

There's an ongoing thing with my mother - I know she has no say over my body and it's not my responsibility if she chooses to take my decisions as a personal attack. However, she's one of the best people I know about literally everything else (not just because we are related, mind you, I can and have told family to fuck right out of my life), so for a long time I hemmed and hawed about it, because I wasn't sure it was worth risking a fight. Recently I got a nose ring and she has kept her mouth blessedly shut about it, so yay for progress (again, I am An Old, but mediterranean mothers are just Like That. In her defence, she outright told me she is making an effort to treat me as an adult and a peer and I can see her really working on it).

10. Favorite color?

the colour of the sky

Orange. I'd pull off the pilot flightsuit. And pink, I adore all shades of pink!

11. Favorite type of music?

Currently in a months long standoff with my brain, who thinks music is evil and out to get him (because we're not having feelings right now) but I can occasionally spoon feed him Hazbin Hotel. ♫⋆ CAUSE I KNOW YOU'RE POISON, YOU'RE FEEDING ME POOOISOOOON, ADDICTED TO THIS FEEEEELIIIIIN' ♪ ₊˚♬

...sorry.

If things are good, literally everything, but I love musicals (Legally Blonde got me through uni last time), metal (D'Artagnan is the latest band I discovered) and everything in the folk, folk metal, country, sea shanties, pirate metal kind of rhythm, and classical music (Verdi can so get it. and Mozart, baby Gondolin's first crush). Oh, and tango and early 2000 pop. Hardstyle if I'm in a writing fugue. I used to only dislike slow ballads and acoustic remakes, but I was recently personally attacked by Avril Lavigne with the Bite Me acoustic. And tbh I listen to Hozier, I should have known.

Shoutout to Inti-Illimani, I am contractually obligated to tell people about chilean protest songs-andean folk legends, listen to them.

12. Do you like puzzles?

Nope.

13. Any phobia?

Mice. Most houses I lived in while in London had mice, and seeing glimpses of tail and little feet scuttling about in places like the fucking kitchen counter really did me in. I recently saw the tiniest, objectively cute, mouse outside (at an archaeological dig, we'd disturbed him and not the other way around) and my heartbeat still got fucked. Meanwhile, I was chill with the HUGE centipede, the snake that slithered right past me, the geko, the turtles, spiders and all other wildlife, or even huge city cockroaches.

Maybe my phobia is shitty British houses, actually. Your walls and celings are not supposed to have holes, you know?

14. Favorite childhood sport?

Quitting. I wasn't into sports enough for me to want to go on and I couldn't give a rat's ass about competing. But I loved ice skating and judo. Skiing too (I grew up in the mountains, I know for a lot of people skiing is the epitome of luxury xD but I could have probably walked to a slope. Okay, maybe not walked, but.)

15. Do you talk to your self?

All the time, and my grandma used to be the same.

I used to give myself interviews when I was a kid, imagining myself as a famous author or filmmaker. Now sometimes I pretend I'm talking to my therapist. Or just straight up talk through things out loud, so it's easier to follow a single train of thought without thinking a billion things at once. Or I give myself little pep talks or go "godddamit, self" and I talk to objects a lot.

16. What movies do you adore?

The Lord of the Rings. All the Star Warses. Even the ones I don't love are fun. Rogue One is top tier but I need to be hydrated for how much I'll cry.

More recently the duology Les Trois Mousquetaires : D'Artagnan part I and II. I can't quite figure out if it's for the movies themselves (and the soundtrack, the soundtrack absolutely slaps), because I'm horrendously thirsty for the cast (I would let trauma-ridden, unwashed, long-haired Vincent Cassel straight up give me syphilis. He's so fucking good as the alcoholic trashfire that is Athos) or if it's because I adore the book and Dumas is part of my genetic makeup at this point.

17. Coffee or tea?

Coffee (currently drinking the cold brew of dreams). I don't like black tea, but herbal teas/infusions are fantastic. I have a hibiscus, apple, mint and berries one from Lidl that is the stuff of dreams (excellent cold too, I brew it for longer with a pinch of green tea and honey, then add some lemon and it's the shit). On the more bougie side, I have the biggest hard on for jasmine tea. Most places sell you green tea with a vague hint of jasmine, but the good stuff that comes in little balls is unparalleled, it smells like the flowers. Also good both hot or cold (again, brewed for longer with some honey or sugar and then I love it with milk or milk substitutes).

18. First thing you wanted to be growing up

Archaeologist 💖 librarian, writer, film director, and briefly F1 pilot.

Since I never know who to tag, I'm doing the last 5 mutuals who liked/reblogged something, because why not. Feel free to ignore this! @obiwong @reena-jenkins @silvergryphon @tothestarwarsandback @themonopolyhat

[harmonyckrs]

Day 6 in Twisted Pleasantview: Some Extra Secrets They've Been Hiding

THE PREVIOUS DAY

NAME: VIDCUND CURIOUS

LIFE STATGE: Adult

STATUS: ALIVE, FUNCTIONAL ?????

SPECIAL NOTES: Found Dina's twins in the forest that held her body, and has taken it upon himself to raise them. With the two children already in his house, there's a lot on his and his brother's plates.

---

Dear Diary,

Today I dropped by the house of the town harlot, which I found by spying on him when he was yelling at the Specters last night and following him back home. He kept turning around a lot as if he could hear me, but I don't think he spotted me so it's all good. Dirk insisted on coming with me, just in case he tried to do anything.

I was greeted by this blonde guy, and as much as I tried to make light conversation with him in hopes of convincing him to let me talk to the town harlot he declined. Due to this I decided to just linger near the graves of their parents for a couple of hours before the guy himself pulled up from work.

It took very little convincing to convince the town harlot to agree to the interview, but he still seemed wary. When I confronted him about it, he apologized and said that he didn't want to risk getting slandered again. I reassured him that I would not, and then he finally let me ask him questions.

Also, I learned his name! It's Pascal. I can finally call him something other than the town harlot!

I decided to start the interview by asking him some questions about his past in order to ease him into giving me info on the allegations. He used to be a scientist back in Strangetown before it got overtaken by Dr. Vu, and his youngest brother, Lazlo, supposedly died in a fire but the body was never found. Pascal said that he thinks Lazlo might still be alive, but that he and his other brother (the blonde guy) had no luck in finding him. Pascal also mentioned some stuff about his job as a nurse, but mentioned that he plans to quit because of Don harassing him.

This gave me the perfect opportunity to ask him about the "town harlot" allegations, and let's just say that choosing him was a great idea! Don apparently hit on HIM after Orpheus ghosted him, and then spread a rumor that Pascal tried to seduce him when he said no. And this was while Don was engaged to Cassandra, too! And then when I asked him about him supposedly trying to seduce Dad, he said he had no idea who Dad even was!

SECRETS UNLOCKED:

Orpheus ghosted his fiance of five years, Pascal, while he was seven months pregnant with their kid, because his mother, Olive Specter, did not approve of him.

Don claimed that Pascal hit on him after Pascal rejected his advances at work.

Daniel lied about Pascal hitting on him as well after Don made his initial claim, even though the two of them never met.

Mortimer got Pascal and Vidcund blacklisted from the science industry, while Mary Sue has been spreading the rumors that Don and Daniel helped build.

Once I got all the juicy details, Pascal told me that his brother was now working as a journalist and that in exchange for his interview, that I would have to let him interview me. When I asked why, he said it was because I was a Pleasant. Unsure what that's for but maybe he wants info on the life of the daughter of a failed politician or soccer coach who peaked in high school. Beats me. He said we could do it over the phone so that it would be easier to record, so I just thanked him and went home

Once I got home, Mom confronted me about going to the house of the "town harlot," so I confronted her about Cassandra. Apparently Dad overheard and he got super mad, and now they hate each other. Oopsy daisies. Angela's going to be so mad once she gets back from her date with Dustin, and Dirk seemed genuinely shocked about what he heard. I imagine he's going to tell Mr. Dreamer later and I look forward to seeing what shitshow comes out of that

Really need to figure out who tf snitched on me, though. Angela's out with Dustin and Dirk went home right after. Guessing it could've been the Specters or Alexander, considering he was playing in the yard with Mortimer when I passed by them. Either way, I've got to be more careful.

THE NEXT DAY

[goddevouringserpent]

c'mon girlies (gender neutral) time for the SLOW YET STEADY CORRUPTION ARC, the DISCOVERY OF THE MOST FUCKED UP PARTS OF OUR SELF WHICH WE EMBRACE LIKE THEY'RE WORTH NURTURING BECAUSE WE ARE TOO AFRAID OF THE ALTERNATIVE, the ULTIMATE SACRIFICE OF OUR MORALITY FOR THE SAKE OF LOVE OR SOMETHING THAT BURNS LIKE ONLY LOVE COULD, TH

anyway, this is Angel, or yuor devil 😈, my MC for @homecomingvn ! definitely gonna be romancing Henry; still not sure if he's also going to be my MC for Lyra or if I'll make a different one for her, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it

more info about Angel below the cut because I cannot shut up ever. it's my curse and I bear it with dignity.

if you ever try to call Angel out on anything, her go-to reply will be "aw, do you really think I would do that, can't you see I'm an angel?" & a face that's a weird mixture of 😏 and 🥺. don't ask how he pulls that one off, it's a secret between him and god and neither of them's telling (when the Nonbinary hit, she briefly considered changing her name for something that sparked more gender joy, but ultimately decided against it because commitment to the bit is her #1 priority.)



I put 'chemistry' as one of the things he likes, but really she's super into anything science-related, chemistry is just her passion. one of the STEM bitches, basically. maybe a bit light on the TE part, but he would still read a 700-page book about, I don't know, How To Build Some Big Shit Like A Bridge Or Aqueduct and enjoy every bit of it. which doesn't necessarily mean he'd understand every bit of it, mind you, but it's all about the energy I guess



related to the above: WILL infodump about her interests if given the chance. WILL NOT stop unless directly and firmly told to. if you want him to shut up but are too polite to do anything about it? good fucking luck. Angel can keep going for hours and that is a promise.



hates the nickname 'Angie' and will never respond to it. will accept 'Annie' from friends, but really they tend to prefer more personalized nicknames—like Henry's 'Buttercup'—or just plain ol' Angel



extremely ride-or-die. if she considers you one of 'her people' there's next to nothing you could do to make her change her mind or give up on you. (though, to be honest, he probably IS going to be very confused as to how he managed to befriend not one Fucked Up Weirdo but two. didn’t even know there were two Fucked Up Weirdos in town! gotta be something in the water.)



I don't know what his job is going to be yet, but I do know he's already had like 15 jobs minimum; all because she's very thorough about "following your dreams" and it just so happens that her dreams generally last around 10-20 business days before he moves on to another dream. Angel, stop hoarding jobs, you fucking maniac. you're gonna destroy the economy. and yes that's sexy conceptually but you gotta be more careful about it bro (gender neutral)



tends to play wizards in D&D/any TTRPG. she likes the complexity and versatility.



speaking of, it's time for the most nightmarish scary fact about Angel, VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED READER BEWARE: she thinks THAC0 makes perfect sense and is intuitive & easy to understand. if you just felt a cold chill run down your spine, it's okay, I did too 😔 (in this house we tolerate AD&D in a "respect your elders" kinda way, but fuck THAC0 what was up with that shit)

Notes:

I don't actually know if school newspapers are a thing or I got tricked by media from the USA and also my ex-girlfriend; it's just that the concept of being some sort of unhinged investigative journalist at the tender age of 14something+ was too fitting for Angel and I had to take the risk of looking like a clown.

the Picrew used is Black Centered Picrew <3 by naylissah. I'd link it but I've been led to believe that This Website makes it so that you can't put external links or the post won't show up in tags/mentions, so uh. it's on the first page of Picrew, if you can't find it send me a DM or something??

[requiesticat]

5 Questions 15 Mutuals

Tagged by @hopelesscrawl. I don't get to do these often, so thanks for the ping!

1. Are you named after anyone?

Not to my knowledge. Online I go by Seyu

Adrian is my name irl. After watching Castlevania, I found out that Alucard's real name is Adrian Tepes- he's one of my favorite characters from that series, so it was a neat coincidence!

Seyu is a bastardization of Yasu/Sayo Yasuda's name. You can tell I've played too much Umineko, lol. Eventually it became a full "title", Seyune Koizumi-Hearn. That comes from the irish writer Lafcadio Hearn, who adopted a japanese surname upon becoming a citizen there (Koizumi Yakumo). I'm irish american myself, and it more or less felt right.

2. When was the last time you cried?

At my last job. Retail is miserable, and I'm glad to be out of that environment.

3. Do you have kids?

No- due to suffering from mental illness I'd prefer to not risk passing that on.

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Sometimes, but not very often. Usually I just keep to myself instead of expressing it outright.

5. What sports do you play/have played?

Badminton. I'm rubbish at all other sports- badminton is the only one I'm decent at.

6. What's the first thing you notice about people?

Usually, how they come off while talking. Their appearances next.

7. What's your eye color?

Blue-grey

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

Both. Horror doesn't bother me much, tbh. If you've read my webcomic or the stories I write, there are mainly elements of psychological horror.

9. Any special talents?

Drawing and writing. Singing as well- I've considered posting song covers

10. Where were you born?

Maryland. I'd like to move back there someday. Right now, I live in rural Pennsylvania... it's the same state but with bad weather

11. What are your hobbies?

Art, music, and writing. I've produced music before:

(My webcomic was called Solitaire before I changed the name to Stockholm Cat Syndrome. Here's a playlist featuring every instrumental created for the project.

Some of the instrumentals are unsettling, indicated by changed artwork with a red background. Keep that in mind before listening. If it gets to be too much, the pink art is "safe")

12. Do you have any pet?

Several pets. Two cats, a betta, two platys, a snail, and a jumping spider. More info about them here. This may count as another hobby.

13. How tall are you?

5'8". Officially taller than Vegeta

14. Favorite subject in school?

English and science. Math was my worst subject; I could never pass those classes no matter how hard I tried to study mathematics.

15. Dream job?

Graphic designer or author with illustrated books. Maybe a toy designer. Just any position where I can work in a quiet space with no interruptions, and make a decent salary for it.

Something remote would be nice as well. Either way I'd rather not try sales/customer service again.

Tag list (only if you feel like it):

@anpanham @askutopis @rabbithub @taniskut @choppers-pink-hat @zootycutie

If there are users I didn't tag who would be interested in doing this, feel free. I don't have a lot of mutuals who use tumblr atm

[casliveblog]

Custom Toonami Block Week 143 Rundown

Spy X Family: So despite being Bluey-level involved parents, apparently the neighbors are now suspicious of Loid because he’s out working late every night on Spy shit which it’s kinda funny because the show never shows us Loid or Yor doing their jobs all that much and somehow neither really gets in the way of their family façade but apparently Loid’s been out doing Spy shit this whole time and it’s one of those Fairly Oddparents retcons of ‘oh yeah it’s always been this way because that’s how it has to be for the plot/joke to work’. So yeah, despite being a walking zombie Loid plans an Aquarium trip for some fatherly-enforced family fun, honestly planning a trip and putting a lot of pressure on the family to ‘have fun or else’ is probably the most normal dad thing Loid’s done so far. I mean not that Loid can’t be a cheating husband with a double life AND take his family to the aquarium but people seem stupid so it’s probably fine. Loid gets another mission while at the aquarium and he has to… get info out of a penguin, that seems like the dumbest way to exchange info like can’t you just stick it in one of the statues or tanks or something holy shit why stick it inside an animal? Apparently Anya can read penguin minds too so that’s fucking dope but because they’re penguins it’s not much to read. Still Loid’s able to break in and get to the penguin she finds that looks suspicious and is it just me or does the Forger family seem kinda like Team Rocket in that they feel like they have an excellent set of skills to do several other jobs than the one they’re doing, like Loid could definitely retire and become a penguin wrangler. Anyway after some hiccups, Loid gets the penguin and Anya reverse-kidnaps herself to have Yor beat the shit out of the enemy spy so mission accomplished. There’s also a little skit of Anya giving her review of the house before being stopped before going in Loid or Yor’s rooms which is pretty cute, nice way to end off the first half of the season.

Inuyasha: With last week’s revelation that the literal last jewel shard is at Inuyasha’s dad’s grave we spend a good portion of the episode going ‘wait how did that work again?’ given it was like, episode five we’re over a hundred episodes in at this point and unlike Naruto, Inuyasha doesn’t flash back to the same few key scenes every couple episodes despite being as absurdly long and filler-ridden. Inuyasha goes to find Myoga and Totosai to get him to yank the death portal out of his eye but they’re like ‘sorry bro, one way trip, gotta take it up with the guy who made it’ and it’s really funny because they really abuse the pearl in Yashahime and kinda plaster over it by throwing New Hosenki from this episode in there to be like ‘yeah I fixed it and made it better’ despite him saying in this episode it’d take him a hundred years to do it but I also vaguely recall Riku having some shenanigans on that front. Anyway Hakudoshi’s basically stringing Inuyasha along this whole episode and making it clear he has no fucking clue how to get into the afterlife and is teasing Inuyasha so he can do it first and Hakudoshi can pull an Ocarina of Time and be like ‘well since you opened the door for me’ and it’s really silly because Hakudoshi appears to Inuyasha and ONLY Inuyasha just to ‘neener neener neener, I’ll get to the grave first’ and then like two hours later sends Kagura to deliver a message about how to actually get there so Inuyasha does all the life-risking grunt work but like BITCH YOU JUST TALKED TO HIM AN HOUR AGO AND SAID NOTHING OF VALUE, YOU COULDN’T HAVE TOLD HIM THEN!? Like they don’t even play it smart and make it look like Kagura’s rebelling again and telling them something they shouldn’t know, she straight up says Hakudoshi told her to tell them this, so Hakudoshi’s just being an extra little albino bitch but he’s like eight days old at this point so I guess I have to cut him some slack.

Yu Yu Hakusho: Well Yusuke is definitely 100% dead forever and Hiei, Kurama and Kuwabara immediately power up to follow Sensui through the tunnel. Hiei blasts a Dragon of the Darkness Flame and it really just pushes Sensui into demon world but it does fucking obliterate every minor demon that was on its way so the tunnel is clear for the moment, also Kurama is apparently able to turn into Yoko as like a Super Saiyan form while keeping his own personality now so it just goes to show those two have not been taking a single fight in this arc seriously up until now. Meanwhile we catch up with the Koenmas, our usual Koenma basically spelling out Sensui’s plan to enrage everyone to chase him into demon world and have Kuwabara slice through the mosquito net barrier stopping the eldritch demons from coming out meanwhile King Yamma is mobilizing the Law & Order Special Demons Unit to go take care of some shit but he’s vague about what he means exactly. Meanwhile in the limbo world that proves Bleach really did steal everything from YYH, Kuwabara jokes about the grid pattern basically being a video game and Hiei who was just literally in a video game where they had to murder a child to get out tells him to shut the fuck up. They get to the big barrier and Sensui’s not a demon so he can run right through but because Hiei and Kurama are now Super Saiyan demons they got blocked, now Kuwbara either has to fight Sensui alone or slice up the barrier to let them through. Now there’s a couple things I like about this exchange: 1. They absolutely don’t have to continue the fight, they can actually just fucking walk away right now and Sensui’s kinda screwed like he can’t chase them or cut the barrier on his own, but nobody’s willing to just let Sensui go after he killed Yusuke. 2. When Kuwabara does cut through the barrier, unlike usual when he does something stupid, no one tells him to stop and I like to think that Hiei and especially Kurama are smart enough to know Sensui’s playing them but they’re not willing to back down at this point, even if it means making things on Earth a whole lot worse. 3. Kuwabara does have the option of being headstrong and self-sacrificing as usual and throw himself at Sensui and die senselessly while claiming he doesn’t need anybody’s help but he admits he can’t beat Sensui on his own and needs help from his friends and does the (relatively) more level-headed thing. So yeah, Sensui gets through to Demon World and checks ‘see the world of the creatures you thoughtlessly murdered’ off his bucket list and goes into his super ultimate armor form which is basically just ‘no’ the ability, you can’t be stronger than it, can’t break through it, just no. Like Hiei swallows the dragon and does his DBZ shit, Kurama does some kinda hell plant thing, notably Sensui does still have to dodge Kuwabara’s dimension sword so if they were able to pin him down and force that to hit him that might have worked but yeah everyone’s just kinda fucked at this point.

Jujutsu Kaisen: We get brief flashbacks of the adults making vague attempts to stop Yuji from charging in and of Junpei getting his Jellyfish Shikikami powers and then the fight is on. Yuji’s double punch shit does about as much to the jellyfish as Flats punching Spongebob but he’s able to maneuver around enough to be able to hit Junpei directly and for some reason the jellyfish’s poison doesn’t seem to affect him at all. After a round of beating the shit out of each other, Yuji gets Junpei calm enough to just fucking tell him what happened with his mom and shit and how Junpei’s basically like ‘people don’t have feelings because the alternative is the people who killed my mom are sociopaths and that’s harder to reconcile’ and Yuji gets the idea to recruit Junpei to be the late stage starter pack but before we can change the opening song too much Mahito jumps in and turns Junpei into a soul gremlin like a few seconds after he has the revelation that MAYBE the dude doing soul experiments in the sewer might be a bad guy. Yuji asks Sukuna to heal Junpei and Sukuna either can’t or won’t, he plays it off as a ‘oh watching you beg is a lot more fun than helping even for power’ but it’s most likely either he can’t heal other people or making a second pact would override the one he already made with Yuji which kinda flies in the face of Mahito’s plan and the plan further falls apart when Junpei apparently dies and Yuji gets SO fucking pissed that he PUNCHES MAHITO’S SOUL like I don’t quite understand the lingo of this show yet but getting so pissed you punch out someone’s soul is badass no matter how you slice it, it has something to do with the Yami Yugi thing Yuji and Sukuna have going but apparently Yuji can punch you so hard it literally hits your very soul and that’s freaking cool as hell. They fight for a while and it’s pretty neat because Yuji’s pissed/dumb enough to just facetank all of Mahito’s chimera shit and Mahito’s basically human silly putty so any damage doesn’t last too long. He tries to turn Yuji into a soul gremlin so he’ll have to ask Sukuna to reverse it but Sukuna stops him like ‘What the fuck you think you’re doing bro, get your dirty ass hands off my soul you franekstein motherfucker before I ram your soul so far up your ass…’ and before Mahito can properly counterattack Kento shows up and realizes Yuji has soul-punching powers so they’re gonna team up to fight this guy and that’ll be fun.

Chainsaw Man: It’s the finale and this one kinda caught me by surprise, like I thought I had two episodes left but apparently I lost count and this is it. After last week and the Ghost Devil nearly killing Aki, this time it’s decided it wants to play nice and gives him the cigarette Himeno told him he could have when he grew up and because he has no fear of the ghost devil anymore it legit can’t see him (though he also walks on it and presumably it can feel him so maybe it just wanted to die instead of being controlled by snake girl idk) He beheads it and before Snake Girl can get her snake on, Kobeni pops out of nowhere using her Sloppy Blowjob Devil powers and captures her. Denji and Power come up against a room full of zombies and Power charges right in and Denji’s just like ‘nope’ and steps back into the elevator which is probably good because the next floor has Katana Man on it. Katana Fucker is still pissed about Denji killing his grandpa which is like one of the few things Denji was NOT in the wrong about like not only did he not kill him till he was already a zombie but the dude blackmailed him all his life into indentured servitude, we’ve established that Denji’s a heartless asshole and Katana Man not wanting to even kill zombies confirms that’s not part of the Devil Man process but something innate to Denji’s character, but he was well within his rights to fucking murder that guy long before he did. Anyway the two fight and do their Spider-Man 2 train sequence and it’s cool and shit but Denji gets both his arms cut off when Katana Man starts doing his anime katana move because he has the power of god and anime on his side. They do the super awesome run past each other and slash deal where Denji says he’s gonna cut him down with his head blade but since Denji’s a lying sack of shit he pulls out his secret move, LEG CHAINSAWS and completely subverts the whole clash which is fun. Katana Boi wakes up chained to the train and I’m not entirely sure why he can’t just transform again but I guess he ran out of blood like Denji does and Denji and Aki take turns kicking him in the balls for killing Himeno which is insanely satisfying like there’s this weird kind of fusion between the ‘we won’t kill you, justice will be served’ and the sure juvenile joy of the nutshots that makes it very fun like it’s not even severe enough torture to be an ethical dilemma it’s just like ‘eh, it’ll make us feel a bit better’ and it is a nice bonding moment between Aki and Denji, even almost makes me forget that Katana Dude didn’t actually kill Himeno at all and they should be mad at Snake girl since she was the one that ate the Ghost Devil and invalidated the sacrifice in the first place (also did we ever get a reason for why Katana Man wouldn’t stay dead even under Aki’s ‘definitely kill you’ sword or was that just chalked up to ‘Devil Men basically can’t die, do not pass go do not collect $200’?). But yeah, everyone’s good, Makima says that the Gun Devil jewel shards they got from the bust gave them enough to track the Gun Devil, Snake Girl dies horrifically in front of Kobeni for maximum trauma and we get a cool montage of Denji, Power and Aki just enjoying running errands to close off the season. Also Denji has the dream he had from the beginning of the season about talking to Pochita from through a doorway which I’m guessing is his Naruto/Kurama seal place and if he opens it Pochita will take back over and drive Denji out.

So yeah, that’s the end of Season 1 for Chainsaw Man and I had a lot of fun and I want more but that’s it for now, dunno if I’ll figure out a new anime to watch for next week or just cut the block a little shorter, I’ll see how I feel when it gets closer.

Ranking of Kings: So we get a new opening and this opening song is actually how I first heard of this series and it does fucking slap so that’s cool. Bojji and Kage are still on their way to the castle and apparently Despa is on his way too but is a ways behind because, and I shit you not, his horse got too fat. Meanwhile Hilling is assaulting the gate and Sword Guy has trained Kirito Guard to become Crossbow Guy and help him infiltrate the castle to destroy the gate to the Underworld. Meanwhile Miranjo’s busted the Underworld Criminals out of prison and is just like ‘yeah go nuts I don’t give a fuck’ and they just like immediately kill her puppets but luckily she has Koro-sensei’s absolute defense mode so no one can smash her mirror. The majority of the episode is getting a feel for these criminal dudes and there are some that are just generic tough guys, one that seems to be more of a schemer and one that’s a fucking Dark Souls dude who cuts into Big Strong Guy #3 Kingbo’s tendons so he can’t hold his sword or stand and just acupunctures his back a bunch and lets him bleed out. This guy is Ouken and my working theory is that he has the same kind of training Bojji does where his fighting style targets vital points for disabling rather than crushing with strength only he went the dark murdery ‘disable and let your enemies bleed out’ route on his skill tree. They just kinda yeet Kingbo out of the castle and schemer guy takes over, Snake Guy tells the snakes to bury Kingbo but turns out he’s still alive which shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone because I don’t think anyone who’s died during this series has actually stayed dead.

Vinland Saga: Askeladd runs his men fucking ragged to try and outrun Thorkell’s advancing army that outnumbers him five to one, sending for reinforcements while heading up the river with them hot on their trails. Bjorn confronts Askeladd about his uneasiness and Askeladd admits Canute’s kind of a downer considering if they win he’s supposed to be the King of England. However they’re able to get away from Thorkell using the English’s one eternal weakness: forgetting other countries exist. They escape to Wales, the red-headed stepchild of the United Kingdom where Askeladd has some contacts that are willing to escort Canute on the chance that when he becomes King of England he’ll stay the fuck out of their country. Like Canute seems like he’d keep his word but would it really be England if they minded their own business? Negotiations do not go well because Canute is, in clinical terms, a fucking pussy. Still they set off with Thorfinn acting as Canute’s personal bodyguard as they work to reunite with the rest of the army in the nearest fort. On the way Askeladd admits that despite claiming to be a great judge of character, having faith in people like Thors hasn’t really worked out for him so maybe someone he has absolutely no faith in like Canute is the change of pace the world needs. Before they can get too deep into navelgazing they’re immediately ambushed in the next town, some deity out there heard Askeladd reminiscing about Thors and fucking trapped him in the same archer high ground bullshit he used on him.

[slow-button-off]

after shaming Charles lack of backpack I was asked if I could explain avalanche gear a little bit so this is a little avalanche gear 101 feat. my gear

I'm not an avalanche expert but I do know my stuff somewhat because this is one of my hobbies. btw I don't do this allone I just cropped everyone else out also this was last year

Beacon

The beacon is the bare minimum and in an ideal world you would also wear one when you go off piste at resorts.

You wear them as close to your body as possible so usually on top of your base layer.

The beacons are transceivers so they can transmit and recieve signals. Ideally you set your beacon to send when you leave the car and then don't touch it until you are back in the car to turn it off.

It's super important because this is what helps others to find you should you have gotten into an avalanche. The others will put theirs on search and then the beacon will tell them how far and in what distance you are.

Searching with a beacon is a little bit more complicated than it sounds but it's really important because it allows you to locate someone much much faster and the first 15 minutes are absolutely crucial!

You should also do a test before you get going every single time to make sure that everyone turned theirs on properly

Shovel and probe

A first aid kit is useful just in general and a rescue blanket thingy is great to have if you do encounter an avalanche.

The shovel and probe are often sold in bundles with the beacons so thats great!

The shovels are in two parts to make taking them with you easier. They aren't super great but they do their job.

The probes are folded and if you pull on that loop it puts itself together and essentially becomes a +2m measuring stick.

If there has been an avalanche you use the beacon to identify the position of the person and then you use the probe to find out how deep they are buried (by sticking the probe into the snow until you hit something) and usually to find out a little bit more about their position so you don't whack them over the head with the shovel.

And then you start digging but not from the top, you want to dig in from the side.

And every single person should carry all of this. Because the shovel isn't going to be usefull if it is buried.

Airbag Backpack

Airbag backpacks are somewhat "luxury" items because they are really expensive but they do come in handy.

They include an airbag that you can inflate using the handle (you have to pull much harder on that than you think) and it's inflated using that cartidge. The cartridges are "reusable" as in you can get them refilled with gas after usage.

The main thing about the airbag is that it keeps you from being buried super deep but you have to set it of quickly enough. So you'll be much closer to the surface which increases the survival by a lot.

The backpacks are that big because you carry all of the above gear and usually food, tea, and for the most part warm clothes for the skiing bit + a helmet with you.

General Avalanche info

Everyone that spends time in the backcountry should go to avalanche training once a year just to refresh the theory on how to avoid them and to practice rescuing people. Because practice makes perfect and time really is of the essence in this case because after about 15 minutes the probability of finding someone alive goes down rather quickly.

There is a whole lot that goes into avalanche risk assessment because there are also quite a few different types of avalanches.

Like how much snow there is, what the weather has been the last like month, how steep the mountain/route is and so on.

In most places there is a public avalanche report where you can find infos on the conditions from professionals.

And in an ideal world you'd do an snow test like the extended column test every single time to find out about problem layers and so on.

but that's where I am going to leave it or this post will never ever end!

[imagine-silk]

Things sitting in my WIPs

You know when you start something and you have like a few things for it but not all of it. I have a reasonable amount. So look at them and maybe do my job for me or send a little thing for it. I'm spread thin. (Also, yes, I am getting to the asks. Just losing writing juice.) Marvel first. Also header here.

Steve Rogers finding some blood family

Summary: Steve wants a family, that much is clear from the movies, so the idea is he finds someone in Brooklyn that is related to him.

He couldn’t get himself to knock so he stood at the door uncomfortable close. Steve has nothing from his past life, his apartment was rented out to someone, everyone he knew was dead, the air smelled different, so did the growing winter chill. But he was never one to give in so easily. He was bound to have some sort of family. And he did. He was at their doorstep. 

His mom's sister's grandson. Steve got one of the SHIELD people to get the info for him, he loved Natasha but she would have given him everything this man had ever done before and he didn't want that info. Now he was thinking maybe he should have.

Knock knock

It took fourteen heartbeats for the door to open and show a young man in a tank top scratching his head and squinting, skin tanned with freckles from the sun and two moles on his neck that made vampire bites. His squint didn't let up however. "What'cha selling. I don't want it."

"I'm not here to sell anything. I'm looking for [F.Name]."

[F.Name] stopped scratching. "I beg your pardon."

"[F.Name] [L.Name]."

"I can't see, who am I talking to?" He seemed to be one hundred percent serious about the sight thing, his eyes didn't focus on him.

"This is going to sound crazy but I'm your cousin."

"I can see color," He frowned, knitting his eyebrows in the same way his aunt would, genuinely confused but very willing to hear someone out.

"My name is Steve Rogers. My mom was your grandma's sister."

This was the part he expected to fight for, to show proof or explain further. He didn’t need to though. "Oh. Yeah. That. Come in then." [Name] stepped back and held the door from the side. So he took the invite with confusion, sat on the couch while [Name] took the other. "First things first. My mom is dead, but I guess you knew that. She said she didn't want you to see her if she couldn't recognize you. I'm guessing you've been through that too though."

Steve rubbed his hands and thought of his cousin, wondering if he could handle seeing her like that while Peggy was doing the same. "Yeah I have."

"Sorry, man. Can't imagine waking up from a nap to all of this mess. Then having to do what you do. I do not envy you."

"You knew we were related? And you never said anything."

"Why would I?"

"I've had people tell that to me before. Not all of them were kids." He was a big figure and had diplomatic immunity to a certain extent, after he saved the world last time he had it again. In short, a good person to have in your pocket.

"To be honest, I didn't think you'd want to see me."

"Why?"

"I'm 'colored'. You're from the 1930s." It made sense and he never thought about it before. To think that was what got in the way of seeing him was depressing. "I figured you wouldn't but I didn't want to risk it."

Peter B is a fucking HIMBO

Summary: Peter is very smart and not dumb at all. That being said, I just want a himbo so here we are.

It was so fucking hot. Summer was not your favorite time of year and it never will be. The beach was always crowded and so was every building, the good stuff at stores was always sold out unless you got to it early, and vendors had lines that led to the train. And here you were sitting on a bench in the park that had no shade waiting. There was shade a bit away but you told Peter you would be there and you didn’t want to risk it, even if the time was flying and baking you. 

You looked around again not actually expecting to see the man you were waiting for, even less so that he would be running. Sweating to the point his work shirt was starting to show what was underneath and disappoint you it was another shirt. He did a hard stop in front of you and struggled to catch his breath, face flushed, chest heaving. “Hey, I’m sorry I’m,” 

You swept your lust under the rug and let your panic take front. “Peter, why were you running? I thought you were taking the bus.”

“I ran to see you dingus.” He laughed and looked at you with a squinty smile that moved what was under the rug. “You won’t believe everything that’s happened but let’s go over there first.”

He all but collapsed under the tree shade and propped his arm on his knee while his thigh pushed his stomach pudge. “You should take off your shirt.” You said. “To get cooler.” You found out a long time ago he didn’t see your impure ogling. At first you thought it was something he was ignoring or thought it was weird but then you blurted out you wanted to feel his chapstick and he actually gave you his chapstick.

“Yeah.” Like always he listened and agreed before going on. “So the epic tale goes a little like this; I wasn’t supposed to go to work today but I got roped in to do a half shift so when I got out I had to come straight here. Then the buses got out of order so I took the wrong one. I ended up a few blocks down and the next bus was going to make me even more late if it even got me here. So I ran.”

"You didn't have to do all that just to meet me." You knew what he was going to say. He was a creature of habit.

"I wanted to." Kind to a fault.  ->

-> There was one thing in your way of you asking to have him. "Oh, I have new pictures of Mayday." He was married, even had a kid.

And if I die before I wake

Summary: Now, I give my characters fucked up powers to the point I think I might be sadistic. So imagine not being able to die. Also I grew up very religious so I know this prayer very well.

I pray the lord my soul to take.

But you learned God didn't want you by his side. At the age fourteen you were in an accident. In the hospital you and your father were pronounced dead, but you woke up on the operating table. It was a miracle. Then you died in an alley, a mugging gone wrong. You looked out to the bustling street from the shadow and held a bleeding chest. But you did wake.

The great tale of Cain and Abel wasn't something that needed to be recited to you. It seemed to you like your father was Abel, blessed to salvation, and you were Cain, doomed to walk the earth. What was your crime? You couldn't imagine what you did as a child that warranted punishment but you did everything to repent for your sin.

At church there was a man, a broad man with posture somehow tensed and slouched praying in mumbling Spanish. He went when there were no sermons and less people, his time was for him and no one else. Just like you. So you did your best to not bother him. He seemed not to notice and it was nice for you. Together but not. You doubted he felt the same.

Then a fucking Rhino man busted into the hall and destroyed everything. You would say desecrated but you weren’t feeling particularly preachy after. Maybe that was why you were how you were. Spiderman was there to save the day and all was well for everyone else. You left through allies to succumb to your wounds, to bleed out praying it was the last time. As you stumbled you heard a person behind you. You told them you didn’t have any money or anything of value on your person. But they caught you and lowered you to the ground. They seemed to recognize nothing could be done so they just held your hand. You asked them to let you die alone and they shushed you.

You woke up to the sounds of ambulance sirens and you ran before you found out if they were for you or not. It was a traumatic event when you died but you steeled yourself first so you could get safe before you dealt with your mind. Like every time you went back to church. You followed the signs to a temporary place of worship to atone. 

The second day of your repent you saw the man and when he saw you he didn't move so you didn't notice him.

He grabs you because his knee jerk reaction is that you are still dying so he is trying to catch you before you fall

Say in Spanish you are haunting him

He is making a very big scene that he is then going to have to explain especially if he has to take a few steps

He looks you horrified and goes to you later to ask if you were okay alluding to the idea he knows you got hurt he just doesn’t know to what extent

Say in Spanish you are haunting him

He sees you but you don’t so he has time to collect himself before he goes to speak to you and you both have a half honest conversation (WINNER)

You do not admit you are repenting and it may or may not be obvious you are not praying for others

He says he was checking on you because he was there but you didn’t see him there and he may or may not have noticed exactly who you were

It's something you would never know but he did see you before he walked up. You figured as much but you never knew for sure. Unlike him you didn’t mutter your prayers but unlike him you made it very obvious how you were dealing with the prayers. He knew you were losing your mind.

He asked to sit with you before asking if you were okay. A small gesture, one you would have welcomed at any time but now, so soon after death, it was hard. He said he was checking up on you because he thought he saw you get hurt. You told him nothing of the sort happened and mentioned in passing you didn't see him there. You both were hiding, one just had a question that needed answering. ->

->You felt like you were being watched, when you were walking home from work, from church. Nueva York wasn't the safest place in the world but you had never felt like that. And it happened for a very good while before something came of it. A woman attacked you in any alley. You didn't know why but she said it was your fault. 

Spiderman swooped in and did his thing but added to the routine. He asked who you were and you panicked, rightfully so. "I'm not sure I follow."

"Most people don't get up after bleeding out. Answers, talk fast." He said walking forward. Slow, painfully slow. And you backed away even slower because you knew there was no way you would out run him.

"I don't know, it just happens." He kept walking. That wasn't enough. "I get back up and I can't explain it. Every time I think it's the end, it's not." It still wasn't enough. "I don't want to be like this. I just want to stay dead." That was enough.

Two weeks after the initial incident he finally came to you as a civilian again. Introduced himself and asked your name saying he had always seen you but never found a reason to speak. Finally a name to the face, Miguel O'hara. An overall quiet man, calm in nature and polite. He started to speak to you after that.

There was still the feeling of being watched, it must have not been the woman. You stopped and looked around. When you looked up you thought you saw something on the roof but then pigeons flew off so you brushed it off. But when the same thing happened again you thought maybe someone caught onto your living situation. Then again, maybe not.

The church was set up again and you thanked God. You didn't talk on the pews before him and he'd be the only person you would. It was pleasant, chattering whispers to not disturb like it wasn't just five people in the room spread out farther than any hearing range. The topic of jobs came up and you had an underwhelming answer. (He said he did a lot of computer work, whether it was at a computer or on you didn’t know./He said he was an engineer who worked on his time.) Not a lie.

A month went by and you acted on impulse, you asked if you could confess to him. He asked if he should be the one to hear it but you assured it wasn’t something you would be condemned for. You admitted you lied to him when you said you weren’t hurt after the church incident. You said you thought you were visited by an angel who was going to take you away but it wasn’t, it left you there.

[mollusken]

tell us more about poni plz

OKAY!!! Poni is a member of the draking crew Swannie used to be a part of so I’m definitely using this as an excuse to talk about all of them. This is the hierarchy of that ship, named the Busken:

• Poni is very funny because she’s just a tertiary character in Swannie’s story, but people really take a shining to her when I show her around. (For reference, here she is!)

She’s a rowdy girl, always the first to jump into a fight. Swannie and her would oft butt heads over their strategy, with her seeing the younger draker as a little foolish and brash. Despite that, she was one of the most honest and brave people Swannie had ever worked with. She was an instrumental figure in helping people during the attack on Raley’s town, risking her life - and her arm - to save people from the drakes that swallowed it. I seriously don’t have much on her other than that lol. She’s just super cute and fun to draw and everyone loves her especially the DM. :]

I’ll put everyone else’s info under the cut!

The Rest of the Crew:

(above, left to right: Swannie, Silvette, Vinan, Lark)

• Silvette and Swannie met at the beginning of their Draking career, hired onto a ship out of the same port city. They became allies very quickly as a means of survival in that setting, and kept in touch as they moved onto other ships.

When Silvette managed to save up enough to start their own crew, Swannie was one of the first people they asked to join. They’re like siblings and have a lot of history in helping each other grow up and into themselves as people.

• Vinan is Silvette’s right hand man, he was raised on a pirate ship which explains his sharp tongue. Having done a lot of sailing, he’s an expert navigator. He also handled the ship’s chequebook with an iron grip, especially after Lark joined and wasted a good chunk of their funds (more on that below).

• Skipping around a bit but since they’re tied into the last two characters: Lark Roelahk.

Lark is an interesting character (for me at least lol) because they came from a branch family of the Amastacias, which made them a cousin of Bett’s. The Amastacias are - of course as everyone knows - an old money family of hex specialists who will do any job for a price. They are tieflings with direct bloodline ties to the nine hells.

The Roelahks were one of the few Amastacia branch families that had Actual law-power come after them for the fucked up magic crimes they were doing, and so Lark was in the path of being collateral damage on that. Silvette, having a personal relationship with a relative of theirs, took them on to give them a place to lie low.

Lark was a useful asset with their family’s connection to the criminal underworld, as it helped the Busken find opportunities they usually wouldn’t have access to (their role being the ship’s job manager). Unfortunately coming from a wealthy family they had No idea how money worked and spent way too much attaining those opportunities. Lark:

Vinan had to step in and take control of the chequebook before they single-handedly bankrupted the ship, so their role whittled to just the finding and sales-pitching to clients.

This was also the catalyst for Swannie and Nova meeting, as Nova came aboard on loan from the Vestige to help balance their books.

•   Next is Jolli & Moody because I love them. They are a couple who worked with Silvette, and are exact opposites of their names in their dispositions.

Jolli came from a noble family who moulded her into becoming an engineer. She hated it, and wanted to get out of her family’s grasp, so she used those skills to get onto a draking ship. She’s pretty sarcastic and reclusive, but comes out of her shell with her partner. Although not a fan of engineering as a career she does like inventing useful tech, especially in her retirement.

Moody on the other hand, was a rogue from childhood. even though draking was illegal until like 2 years ago, Drakers generally frowned upon any mercenary or thieving work. So Moody had a bad reputation for the jobs she used to do. Not many people would look past it, but Silvette did and hired her anyways.

She’s been a stalwart friend to both them and Swannie, and the couple has recently joined our team on the Vestige. She also apparently picked up Clowning in the years they’ve been apart much to Nim’s delight lol.

The rest are more tertiary characters like Poni so they have a little less info but:

• Indus was an engineer specialist who definitely picked up Jolli’s slack in terms of caring for the job; they were incredibly analytical and inventive. Basically the absent minded inventor type. Their skills and quick-thinking were imperative for the little ship. Both Indus and Lark unfortunately died in the crash of the Busken that also took Swannie’s leg.

• Jax was a former army cook who moved into draking. As a quiet man, he liked the solitude in the day when the crew was out working, and the rowdy atmosphere of get-togethers over meals in the night. He also had a specific interest in science/biology and went over drake dissection with Swannie, teaching her a lot of her skill. 

• Raley was an integral piece of the crew, as medics were a rare skill to find in the Draking profession. He was a doctor-in-training that hailed from a small town, which unfortunately suffered a dragon’s attack. He learned a lot in the gruelling days afterwards while helping folks patch up. Something in him shifted from that experience, and he was never comfortable again staying in one place. The Busken was one of the ships that responded to the distress calls and, intending to board just to make it to another city, he never left the ship. Um so yeah there you go, another addition to the Untamed Lore Bible. I made a LOT of side characters for Swannie’s background (and just keep expanding it the more I think about it) but I love having the variety. It’s so flattering that people like Poni’s design enough to ask about her even if she’s very minor in the main story! :]

[ophelianated]

have i ever talked about how much i looooove working in customer service (contact centre agent, to be exact)

to all the entitled bitches out there who treat us like servants at best and dirt on their shoe at worst on a daily basis, please for the LOVE OF GOD:

take five minutes, just five minutes out of your life to do some research by yourself before bothering us. we're not fucking google, and being treated as such gets real tiring real fast. we should be your last resort

we're not therapists either. i repeat, We. Are. Not. Therapists. we understand that you're frustrated, but our job description doesn't include emotional labour. we're here to help you, not listen to you vent. if you need a minute, hour, day to get yourself together enough to shift your focus back on problem solving, you can just contact again later. don't take your anger and desperation out on us. all telling us how you'll have to tell your children now that they can't see their favourite team play because you can't afford to pay a fee will accomplish is make us upset too because we're not allowed to make exceptions - "gesture of goodwill" is not a concept all companies support. all yelling and cursing at us will do is earn you an abusive customer badge and make us feel like shit. one would think that this would be a no brainer, yet here we are. here we FUCKING ARE

nor are we complaint forms. take your spiel where it belongs so it can arrive in the hands of someone in the correct department specialized to deal with more complex issues, like ones that require an official investigation for instance. believe it or not, we have a complaint form for a reason. describe your problem as concisely as you can and don't waste our time, especially because some of us are micromanaged down to how much time we spend with each customer, and we WILL get in trouble if we go over a certain limit

exercise some patience and understand that Rome wasn't built in a day. some processes take time, and no, in most cases we have no way of expediting them, especially if we're escalating something to another department. adding "urgent" at the end only serves to piss people off

if we say we can't do/don't know something because we physically don't have the method or authority to execute what you want us to/access the information you seek, believe us. unless you're being particularly rude, i promise we're not trying to pass you off, we genuinely have no way of helping you

on that note: if we say that our company policy forbids us from doing shit, believe us. and ask yourself if YOU would risk YOUR job for a random stranger before demanding that we do it anyway and getting mad when we say no

if we say that our supervisors can't do anything about your problem either, BELIEVE US. so many of you mfs think that supervisors are above company policy for some reason. i'm telling you, they have waaaaaaay less authority than you think, and if they actually gave us the go ahead to kiss your asses to high heaven and do whatever you ask, them and us would be fired at the exact same speed

if we tell you where you can find the information you seek and more, don't be a lazy piece of shit and actually check it out. if we spell an entire process out for you so it's clear what you have to do and how, don't ask if we can do it instead. you're adults. exercise some goddamn self-reliance. i've had customers asking me to cherry pick and send them via chat only the relevant contents of the page i literally had just sent them the link to a few seconds prior because they didn't want to click on said link and spend TWO MINUTES skimming the page to find what info they needed and within what article. why don't i chew your fucking food for you as well while i'm at it. tie your shoelaces. wipe your ass maybe. this also gets old real fucking fast

if we're communicating via email or chat, read what we send you. yes, even if it's a wall of text. so many conversations could take half the time if you people just fucking read shit*

don't waste your breath. threatening to sue the company will not intimidate us into doing what you want. we get threats like that every day and (unfortunately) they never go anywhere

understand. process it on a cognitive level. make it a part of you carnally if necessary. but i'm begging you please find a way to get it through that thiccc skull: we don't know every single one of our fellow employees personally. neither do we have access to the complete list of people working for the company. i have no fucking clue who the blond guy who was rude to your mother yesterday three countries away is, nor do i have the power to get him fired (refer back to the point about complaints on how to proceed in this situation)

if YOU are the one who fucked up royally and the situation is beyond saving, THAT'S ON YOU. entirely on YOU. don't blame us for not having a solution to any and all mistakes you bitches make. we clean up your messes more than enough as is, because some of you apparently can't even spell your honest to god child's name right. given of course that you don't just forget about them entirely (both true stories)

read the terms and conditions. i don't care if it's long and dry and tedious. it's also sneaky and elusive and contains a shitton of info companies don't shove in your face, which is why you should study that shit like it's holy scripture before you do anything

no, you can't get a refund for everything. life doesn't work that way. deal or die

understand that we don't make the policies of the company we work for. yes, we're aware that some (or even most) of them suck, but we gotta eat somehow. we're not the company, and we're not the enemy. i repeat, we are not the company, and we are not the enemy

on the same vein: make peace with the fact that most of us are not malicious. we don't sit around rubbing our hands, coming up with different ways to fuck up your day and steal your money. we're trying to make the best of what we're working with. if you don't like the answer we give you, chances are we don't either, but there's nothing we can do and we feel horrible about it. i know it's easy to feel like we don't help you because we don't want to when you're being told no over and over, but resist the temptation to make us the big bad in your head. i promise most of us would love to help you, and it feels incredibly shitty if we can't, especially since helping people out is the whole purpose of our job

our training can't prepare us for each and every scenario we face on the job. it's just not possible. be reasonable and patient if yours happens to be an extremely tricky case that even our most experienced colleagues haven't encountered. we are people, and we are doing our best

*actual conversation i had with a customer (kept vague for security purposes):

me: We can't do x because the other people with you don't have the necessary thing y. We in the contact centre will have to give them y by [insert explanation about the process].

customer: But they don't have y.

me: Yes, that's the problem. They will need it before we can proceed.

customer. Oh. How can I get them y?

[drsorrell]

Wed. 9.6.23

Announcements & Reminders

I'm at the table right outside our classroom hallway every morning from 8-8:30 am. I'm happy to talk about anything or look at any work.

I hope you had a good break! I went on my first real early fishing trip with my son, and he broke his rod and then dropped mine in the middle of a lake, so, you know...

I'll take a look at your Chapter Tutorials and InQuizitives later this week just make sure you've at least started them.

8:30 am Class: We'll have a visit in class on Friday from our course Writing Associate, Kyra (the tutor specifically assigned to our class).

There's a lot to do in class on Friday, so be ready: a writing chapter + two readings. We'll work a lot on making connections among the different readings to prepare you for the outline-draft-paper writing portion of this unit that starts next week.

Updated Writing Center Info for Fall 2023. Sign up for an appointment here: https://outlook.office365.com/book/SVCWritingCenter@SaintVincentCollege.onmicrosoft.com/.

Discussion/Activity: We'll do this in the Schoology discussion forum "Burwell, Lehman, Moro Discussion (in-class on Mon. 9.6)." I'll also post the prompt below (indented).

Discussing Burwell, Lehman, Moro: I think we’ll do this in groups, but we might try a whole-class discussion. I usually avoid those because people tend to stare at their desks and try not to talk if I’m standing in the front of the room trying to moderate what you guys say, so please pleasantly surprise me if we try a whole-class discussion out today ;) ✪ The benefit of a whole-class discussion: We just talk, and I will post notes on what you say in the forum! BURWELL. Burwell has worked for various presidential administrations and is in her last year as the president of American University, where she made $1,066,509 in 2019 (!)..  ✪ Burwell writes, “Today’s young adults seem to arrive at college with less resiliency and a lower appetite for risk and failure. In raising their children, parents have focused more on protecting them from stress and anxiety and less on teaching them how to cope” (560). ✪✪ Do you agree about students being more afraid not to do well? Do you agree about changing parenting styles? If yes, think of some examples of each. LEHMAN. Lehman works for the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, which is a conservative organization (no judgment either way--just giving you the information!).  ✪ Lehman writes, “But in focusing on the scale of the problem, we sometimes forget to think about how all that debt affects people's lives” (568). ✪✪ What comparison is Lehman trying to make between “focusing on the scale of the problem” and "thinking about how all that debt affects people's lives”? What approach do you think would work the best to make people aware of and do something about the situation? MORO. Beyond the fact that she graduated from Notre Dame around 2018, Gabriela Moro has done a good job of hiding on the internet, so I can’t tell you much about her beyond that she wrote this as a freshman for our kind of class!  ✪ Morowrites, “Thus, even though minority student clubs can lead to self-segregation among students and result in less cross-cultural interaction, their benefits to minority students suggest that a balance needs to be found between providing support for minorities and avoiding segregation of these groups from the rest of the student body” (545). ✪✪ So Moro is obviously looking for a “balance” between a personal/cultural identity and a large sense of belonging at college? How best do you think this could be achieved at SVC? Real suggestions, please! ✪✪✪ Extra-credit +1 point on Final Draft #1 if you can actually find out anything about Moro beyond her blurb at the end of this site: https://freshwriting.nd.edu/volumes/2016/essays/minority-student-clubs-segregation-or-integration.

Homework for Friday 9.8

◆ Read Ch. 2 (32-46) + complete Ch. 2 Tutorial.

◆ Read Ch. 21, Addison (527-530) and Clark (531-537).

◆ Complete InQuizitive: “Elements of Argument.”

Other Extra Credit: Read this article, called "You Learn the Value of a College Degree When You Live Without One." Then tell us about it in class on Friday. That's all. +1 point on Final Draft #1.

There shouldn't be a paywall, but in case there is, I also uploaded it to Drive as a PDF here.

[lookinghalfacorpse]

in the wild all lessons last - extra scene 1

hello!! thinking of posting extra scenes and other random stuff that doesn’t fit into my fics on tumblr! if i get enough i’ll compile them on ao3 but for now y’all can have this

takes place between chapters 2 & 3 (dream is taking his first nap outside the torture box)

read the full fic here , info and trigger warnings here

“He looks like he’ll just… stop breathing at any moment,” Phil said with a nervous smile, “doesn’t he?”

Technoblade nodded.  They sent Dream to bed an hour ago and checked on him twice during that time, and he hadn’t moved a single muscle since they last saw him.  Techno grew all-too familiar with Dream’s sleeping habits after spending three months in an obsidian box with him, and even his rest seemed restless.  His hands would wander and grasp, his breath would hitch and sigh at random.  But now, looking small and unguarded in the center of the guest room bed, Dream was completely still and his breath was horrifyingly slow.  There were several, long seconds between each inhale and exhale, and it was far too easy to imagine his chest stilling completely.  

“He didn’t sleep like this in the prison,” Techno said.

“I believe it.”  Phil sat on the edge of the mattress and took hold of Dream’s wrist, gently turning it and placing two fingers there, feeling his pulse.  Dream didn’t stir or react.  “He’s exhausted.  I was almost putting him to sleep in the bath, did you see that?”

“I did see that.”

“This is probably the most comfortable he’s been in months, I guess it’s not surprising that he’s sleeping so… so deeply.”  Brows furrowed, Phil switched to feeling the pulsepoint on Dream’s neck instead.  “He’s just making me nervous.”

Techno crossed his arms across his chest.  His body cast a long shadow over the mattress, dwarfing the other two men.  Both Philza and Dream were so damn small.  So much for hibernating, he supposed; he should be awake to protect them.  “Think he’ll make it?”

“Oh, he’ll be alright, mate.  Don’t you worry.  He survived this long with very minimal care; he’ll thrive with good food and some careful treatment. If we sent him out into the wilderness, I think he would’ve dropped by now.  But he’ll be fine here.”

The dogs were curious about Dream.  Many of them stopped in, sniffed at him, and then went about their way, while others investigated the worst of his injuries, undoubtedly smelling blood there.  Some welcomed themselves to his bed and laid alongside him, thankfully avoiding his wounds.  All the commotion still didn’t wake him, and he didn’t even move much in response.  Even his hair, which Phil tucked behind his ear during their last check-in, didn’t budge.

One dog was keeping a diligent eye on Dream since only a few minutes after he fell asleep.  One of Techno’s biggest pups-- a survivor who endured Doomsday and all of the many battles that followed.  She didn’t hop onto the mattress, but instead opted to sit like a statue near the nightstand.  Her eyes, dark and observant, watched Phil’s hands as he quickly examined the bandages that were within reach.

Techno smiled.  She was going to do this whether or not he asked her to, so he might as well make it official.  “Come up here, Em,” he said, patting the mattress.

She obeyed, jumping up and sitting exactly where she was instructed.  Techno took one of Dream’s hands in his own and displayed his palm to her.  “This is Dream, okay?  I dunno if you remember him or not, he was pretty different when you last saw him.  He’s hurt right now, see?”

Em sniffed at his hand, nose lingering at the missing finger, long black eyelashes fluttering.

“He’s yours.  Watch him.  Make sure he doesn’t do anythin’ stupid, and if he needs somethin’, tell me or Phil.  Probably Phil.”

Risking a glance at Philza, he saw his old friend smiling.

“This is gonna be a tough job, alright?  This guy is stubborn, and he pushes too far.”  Em traced her nose up Dream’s arm, nestling it into his neck as she sniffed at him.  She lifted his jaw a bit in her investigation, and his next exhale came as a sigh.  “This is the last thing I’ll ever ask of you.  I’ve put you through enough.  Sound like a deal?”

Without any further complaint or suggestion, Em laid down and placed her head directly in the center of Dream’s chest.  A protective and reassuring position-- and, of course, it put her ears directly on top of both his lungs and heart.

Phil chuckled beside him.  One of those low, throaty chuckles he did when he was using those mind-reading powers that Techno could never get him to admit to.

“What is it, Philza?”

“Oh, nothing, mate.”  Phil patted a hand on Em’s back.  “I’ll feel a little better with someone else watching his vitals.  The biscuits are probably done, we should go take a look.”